


I Loved Him, Once

by Flutterbat



Series: Destiny By Blood [3]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Bad Future Timeline (Fire Emblem), Drabble, Gen, Mother-Son Relationship, Past Relationships, Post-Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright, Post-Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest, alternative universe, love child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 17:28:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16896906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flutterbat/pseuds/Flutterbat
Summary: She’s seen that look before, once, on /him/. It makes her heart tug, the thought that she shares him with someone else - She has always thought of her son as hers and no-one else’s.Or: A Mother and her son face an awkward truth.





	I Loved Him, Once

**Author's Note:**

> Arguably spoilers? 
> 
> Rating is because of an assumption one of the characters makes, but there is no description or detail.

She’d seen that look before, once, on _him_. It makes her heart tug, the thought that she shares him with someone else - After everything that happened, all the hurt, all the pain... he was the light that came at the end of the darkness and she has always thought of her son as hers and no-one else’s. Certainly not _his_. No, it was nothing to do with _him_ , and if she had her own way _he_ would never know.

Perhaps that was selfish. Now her son is angry and deep down she knows she can’t blame him. She kept the truth from him because it hurt and… well, it had come back to bite her, in a way she could never have anticipated. After the shouting he'd stormed off. But she's given him time and some space, and she hopes he knows that they need each other. He can't be angry forever ( _can he?_ a small voice asks) and if she can just explain her decision, she is sure he will come around. 

She finds him at the end of forest. He’s chopping wood to let off some steam and swings the axe with such vigour it makes her wince. She calls out softly to him to gain his attention, then approaches slowly.

He turns to look over at her, and beneath the anger she sees confusion and conflict. There's something else there too - grief perhaps?

_She has a flashback to when he was small, when she had been able to afford a little peace for him, instead of hiding and fear. "Hey Mama," he has asked innocently. "How come I don't have a Papa like the other children in the village? Can we go find him?" a pause, then a hopeful smile. "I think a Papa would be fun." He was too innocent to understand, so she had lied and his little heart had been crushed._

His eyes are rimmed red and he swallows hard before he speaks. “Does he know?” Is the first thing he says to her.

She pauses. “No,” she says quietly.

He takes another swing of the axe and the log he attacks splits neatly in half. _He has his father’s strength_. “What are we going to do now?” She doesn’t have time to reply before he adds, “Will his death ninjas come for me or something?”

“I won’t let them,” she replies almost defiantly. "They won't even get close."

Her son stares at the chopping block, “Are you sure about that? I mean, it’s clear you’re pretty mad at him. You lied about it." She doesn't have an answer to that but she is certainly not ready for his next question. "Why… why did you keep me after everything he… did? Do you hate me too?”

It takes her a moment to read beneath his words and assumptions and the thought horrifies her. She reaches out to him and takes him in her arms, in a fierce hug so tight she doesn't want to let him go. To her immense relief, he does not push her away, and instead falls into her comfort. “No, no, oh darling, it’s not like that. It was never that.” She paused. “I loved him, once.”

"Then what happened?"

After nearly two decades, it is her turn to weep.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr, and I've expanded/tweaked it a little.
> 
> Originally written with Camilla and Shiro with the Bad-Future-Birthrightverse in mind, but it was pointed out to me that it could work for Hinoka and Siegbert in the Bad-Future-Conquestverse too. 
> 
> I'll leave the reader to speculate how this scenario occurred >:3


End file.
